Its always too early to give up

I didn’t plan on writing a blog post today but I just finished lunch at one of my favorite Middle Eastern restaurants in town and over lunch something happened that got me thinking about photography and visual peacemaking.

I was supposed to meet Jordan at my office but as I was thinking about our meeting it donned on me that we could have lunch at one of my favorite Middle Eastern restaurants in town. Now it just so happened that this also happened to be a restaurant where I had approached the manager and asked if I could shoot some images of their food, employees and restaurant for free. I didn’t do this because I am passionate about photographing food and restaurants, I did it because I wanted to use my photography to be a blessing to this new Muslim restaurant.

Even though the manager showed interest in me shooting some images for them, I had never heard back from her. So when I went into today I was hoping that she was still interested. After some time she came and sat with us and we began to talk and she brought the offer I had made earlier to take some pictures for them. It turns out she was still interested and had just been swamped with trying to run the restaurant. So we talked and I am going to go in next week and shoot some images for her.

As I was leaving the restaurant thinking about all of this something hit me. I realized I almost missed an opportunity to be a blessing because I was going to give up too soon. If I had just assumed she was not interested because she had not gotten back to me I might have missed this opportunity to use my photography to be a blessing. I was so thankful I didn’t assume but took the initiative to go in one more time just to see how she was doing and see if she was still interested.

So whether you a photographer and visual peacemaker or you are passionate about something else, just remember it is always too early to give up. You may have to initiate a lot before something happens but we can’t grow weary in our pursuit of doing good, we have to keep on keeping on. Happy visual peacemaking!

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Joe Murray, The Visual Advocate, is a Humanitarian and Cultural photographer based in Decatur, Georgia. Joe began his photographic career as an adventure and landscape photographer, but a month-long trip to India in 2009 deeply impacted him and proved to be a turning point in his life and photographic vision.
Today, Joe is dedicated to using his craft to create and share compelling images and stories of the lives of the peoples and cultures of the world. While Joe loves and appreciates all the peoples and cultures of the world, he has a particular vision, passion and love for India and South Asia.
As both an experienced photographer, public speaker, recruiter and advocate, Joe's goal as a visual artist is not simply to create awareness, but to move people to use their lives and resources to be a blessing to the world's most poor, abused, displaced, stereotyped and overlooked peoples.